Battery-plate and terminal connection



A. F. HAWKINS.

BATTERY PLATE AND TERMINAL CONNECTION.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3. 1919.

Patented May 4, 1920.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

ALDA F. HAWKINS, F FORT WORTH, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD BATTERYMANUFACTURING COMPANY, 013 FORT WORTH, TEXAS, A COIRQEOBIAT IIIOISTv OFTEXAS.

BATTERY-PLATE AND TERMINAL CONNECTION.

Appliction filed October 3', 1919. Serial No. 323,097.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBA F. HAWKINS,

a citizen of the United States, residing at.

Fort \Vorth, in the county of Tarrant and State of Texas, have inventedcertain .new and useful Improvements in Battery-Plate and TerminalConnections, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in battery plateand terminal connections.

It has been customary to insert the lugs of the battery plates in slotsin the terminal block and either upset the upper ends of the lugs orfuse the same by means of a torch.

This leaves the lugs free to work loose and often break off, and furtherresults in bad coi'inections. Another objection to such a method is thatthe blocks must be cast with the correct number of slots and of theproper size. which requires a number of separate molds. Further inhandling, the fingers between the slots are frequently bent,-thiscausing delay in straightening the same.

The aim of my invention is to unite the plate lugs and the terminal inone integral or solid piece by melting the same together; and to do soin an adjustable mold capable of accommodating all sizes. By thisarrangement the plates and terminal will be molded together and looseconnections cannot be had and considerable time and expense will besaved.

ln carrying out the invention the battery plates are assembled withtheir lugs extending up through a mold, the latter being adjusted to thesize of terminal desired. A ter ninal post and flange are inserted inthe mold in juxtaposition to the plate lugs. A

size yoke is placed in the mold to coach with'the terminal flange informing the terminal block. The flame of a torch is applied to theupstanding lugs and these are melted down and fused with the flange,additional metal being added if necessary. T his forms the post, flange,block and plates into a single rigid casting. The invention will be morereadily understood from a reading of the following specification and byreference to the accompanying drawings, in which an example of theinvention is shown, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the mold used, Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe same with plate and terminal therein, I

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. l with terminal and plateadded,

lg. 4 is a front elevation of upper end of mold, and

Fig. 5 is perspective View of terminal post and flange.

In the drawings the numeral designates a base having parallel grooves 11to receive battery plates. Posts 12' are mounted at each side of thegrooves near the front end of the base. Sleeves 18 are fitted on theposts and terminate short of the upper ends of the latter. A moldingplate 14: receives the upper ends of the posts and rests on thesleeves.This plate is secured in place by nuts 15 screw-threaded onto theupperends of the posts. y

The molding plate has a recess 16 in its front side from which slots 17lead rearwardly. The slots are disposed directly over the grooves 11. Asize yoke 18 rests on the plate 1% and has a depending boss 19 on theplate 14: so that the front edge of the flange alines with the rear endsof the slots 17 and said flange forms the rear side of the molding area.

Patented May 4, 1920.

ln using the device battery plates A are I placed uprightly betweenedges in the grooves ll ot the base and their lugs B extending upthrough the slots 17 and above the yoke. After the battery plates areplaced in the mold, the yoke 18 of the proper size is placed in positionas is shown in Fig. 2 and other figures. A torch or. other flame is nowapplied to the upstanding lugs B, which aremelted down so that the metalspreads over the molding area within the yoke. The front edge 0 theflange 21 is melted sufliciently to fuse the molten metal of the lugstherewith, thus forming a terminal block C as is shown in Fig. 2. If thelugs do not provide suflicient metal,'morc metal may be added.

It will be seen that the lugs B and the flange 21 are unitdand thebattery plates and terminal post are rigidly and permanently connectedand all chance of loose connections eliminated. After the metal hascongealed the yoke 18 is removed and the castln is lifted so that theprojections D are ralsed above the plate 14, when thesaid casting andplates may be slid forward and removed. If the ends of the flan e 21should project they may be cut off an thus the same size of flange maybe used on various widths of terminal blocks.

What I claim is:

In apparatus of the character described, a substantially horizontal baseprovided upon its upper face with spaced grooves extending through itsforward portion, a pair of upstanding posts secured to the base uponopposite sides of the grooves, a substantially horizontal molding platesecured to the upper ends of the posts, said plate having spaced slotswhich have their forward ends open, said plate having an opening spacedfrom said slots and arranged rearwardly out of the slots, saidmolding'plate serving tosupport the flange of a binding post with thelug of the binding. post projecting into said opening, and a bararranged -upon the plate adjacent the slots and having recess meansleading into the slots, said bar being adapted to be manually removedfrom the ALDA F. HA INS.

